Year In Review 2012: Notable Quotes From Canadian News Events

A list, in chronological order, of some of the notable quotes from Canadian news events in 2012:

"If the NDP actually has any information, we challenge those members to give that information to the authorities. We have yet to see it and no reason to believe them." — Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the House of Commons on Feb. 28 in response to a question from New Democrat interim leader Nycole Turmel about the so-called robocalls affair.

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"Our future is limitless if we get our priorities right." — Newly elected NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, speaking after he won the leadership in Toronto on March 24.

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"It's not been easy, but he'll be fine, thank you very much and be nice to my dogs." — Barbara Amiel, speaking to reporters just hours after greeting Conrad Black at his Toronto home on May 4 following his release from a Florida prison where he served time for fraud and obstruction of justice charges.

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"I need a bonus for this." — Kelly, a handywoman who didn't want her last name used as she contemplated the prospect of cleaning a blood-spattered Montreal apartment on May 30 that was rented by alleged murderer Luka Rocco Magnotta and where police believe atrocious acts took place.

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"It's time for people to wake up and stop loafing about. It's lasted long enough. We heard them. We listened. They should stop. It's costing the city a fortune. It makes no sense." — Race-car driver Jacques Villeneuve on June 7 ripping into Quebec student protesters who he also called "rebels without a cause."

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"It was almost like a little mini earthquake, like a big bang, and then gone. There was nothing there. Everything started to cave in, water was pouring out of the pipes." — Heather Richer, who owned a restaurant in the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, Ont., and was at work when the roof collapse occurred on June 23.

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"If Alberta doesn't sit down and talk about it, the project can't go ahead. It's as simple as that." — B.C. Premier Christy Clark in a July 24 interview with The Canadian Press after the province issued its five conditions before B.C. will consider supporting Enbridge's Northern Gateway project.

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"We feel like we didn't lose, we feel like it was taken from us. It's a shame in a game like that that was so important, the ref decided the result before it started." — Captain Christine Sinclair says officials robbed Canadian women's team of a semifinal win over the United States at the Summer Olympics on Aug. 6.

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"TPS meant Taxe Pour Surprenant. At the time, it was one per cent of the value of the work." — Ex-construction boss Lino Zambito testifying on Oct. 1 at the Charbonneau Commission that former City of Montreal official Gilles Surprenant skimmed one per cent off contracts for himself. 'TPS' is the French-language acronym for the federal sales tax.

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"I am proud of having gone through the terribly difficult process of being falsely charged, falsely convicted and ultimately almost completely vindicated without losing my mind, becoming irrational, ceasing to be a penitent and reasonable person and actually being able to endure a discussion like this without getting up and smashing your face in, which is what most people would do if they had been through what I have been." — Conrad Black to Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman during an interview on British TV in October.

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"I thought it wasn't going to be that big of a deal, but I found it to be pretty emotional to be there with her and my family and my extended family, and it reinforced for me what those things in life are in terms of the most important: family, friends." — Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty insisting on Oct. 15 that it wasn't the controversy over the gas plants that prompted his sudden resignation, but rather his daughter's recent wedding as a time where he realized it was time for the party to renew itself.

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"It gave me a taste of what travelling is going to be like. Are people sitting around me thinking I'm the crazy Air Canada lady?" — Maygan Sensenberger, who pleaded guilty to causing a disturbance on an Air Canada flight she took in August with her husband, Liberal Sen. Rod Zimmer. She was commenting in October on the fact that her face was splashed on TV and total strangers were snapping cellphone photos as she sat in an airport departure lounge.

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"I was astounded the more I heard about it, I just thought, 'How in the name of God did anyone miss all of this?' Well, the answer may be in the fact that security is just ridiculous. It's Swiss cheese." — Mike Taylor, lawyer for Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle, speaking on Oct. 24 after his client pleaded guilty to espionage charges.

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"I want to say this is for all the haters who thought I was just here for one or two years. I feel like I'm going to be here for a very long time." — Justin Bieber after winning American Music Award for favourite pop/rock male on Nov. 18.

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"Am I unhappy about the prospect? You bet I am. It’s absolutely something that torments me. But by the same token I have a long-term responsibility to this game and to the fans of the game to make sure we have a healthy product. Too many people are forgetting where we were 10 years ago. And the fact is we didn't have a healthy game, and we had too many franchises that couldn’t continue. We did what we had to do in 2004 to make it right, and we’re focused with our owners on what we need to make this game healthy for our fans." — Commissioner Gary Bettman is asked on Dec. 6 how he could justify cancelling another NHL season.

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"This stuff is getting ridiculous, (losing) all these games. I'm here to play hockey, I'm not here to negotiate. I support the players. I witnessed how hard guys worked and how bad they want this to work.

"But to see this happen, it's terrible. It makes everyone look bad." — Hockey star Sidney Crosby comments on the state of the labour situation after talks broke down on Dec. 6.

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"The most important benefit of this development is that it allows us as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to stand tall and proud on the national stage, knowing that as our forebears persevered to etch an existence on the edge of the North Atlantic, so will we with unrelenting focus and steadfast determination overcome all obstacles and transform challenges into success." — Premier Kathy Dunderdale of Newfoundland and Labrador on Dec. 17 after giving final approval to the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project.

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"I ask you to imagine how you would feel, put yourself in the shoes of one of the missing and murdered women and think how it would feel if you were dismissed, considered unworthy of attention by the majority of the people in your city. What if you were made to feel invisible, unworthy?" — former B.C. Court of Appeal judge Wally Oppal, who led B.C.'s inquiry into the Robert Pickton serial murder case, upon the release of his report on Dec. 17.

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“Darwin is not a dog, he’s not a cat, he’s not a lizard. He’s 93 per cent human DNA. ... If you go to visit him as a five-year-old child, if you do have a child, how would you feel to see your child behind a cage and be with him outside the cage to say, ’Oh, your mommy and daddy is here' ... yet you cannot cuddle.” — Husband of Yasmin Nakhuda, who identified himself only as Sam, on Dec. 21 after a judge in Oshawa, Ont., denied them temporary custody of a monkey named Darwin while they fight in court to get him back from the primate sanctuary where he was taken after being found wandering an Ikea parking lot wearing a shearling coat.

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Best Canada Photos Of 2012 By CP

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Participants run from the frigid waters of English Bay as two people wear a shark costume during the 92nd annual Polar Bear Swim in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday January 1, 2012.

Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay performs as the band kicks off it's North American tour in Edmonton Tuesday April 17, 2012.

The Weed Fairy, left, smokes a massive marijuana cigarette as thousands take part in the annual marijuana 420 smoke off at Dundas Square in Toronto on Friday, April 20, 2012. All around the world pro-marijuana supporters gathered in support of cannabis.

A protester, right, opposing Quebec tuition fee hikes confronts a passerby during a demonstration in Montreal, Tuesday, May 15, 2012.

Wildrose leader Danielle Smith carries a sign given to her as cafe customers look on during a campaign stop in Cochrane, Alta., Thursday, April 5, 2012. Albertans went to the polls on April 23.

Graham James arrives at court for sentencing in Winnipeg on March 20, 2012. The former hockey coach was given a two-year sentence for the sexual assault of now-retired NHL star Theo Fleury and his cousin, Todd Holt. Both were teens playing in the Western Hockey League when the incidents took place during the 1980s and early '90s. The sentence sparked outrage across Canada and the Crown, which had asked for six years, has appealed.

A tearful Tara McDonald, mother of slain eight-year-old Woodstock girl Victoria Stafford, receives a hug from partner James Goris during a break in proceedings at the trial for Michael Rafferty, the accused in her daughters murder in London Ontario,Tuesday, March 13, 2012. Rafferty was found guilty.

Emergency crews attend the scene where a VIA train was derailed with passengers on board in Burlington, Ont., on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012.

Ontario Provincial Police and emergency crews investigate a vehicle collision in Hampstead, Ontario, Monday, February 6, 2012, where 11 people died, including 10 migrant workers, in one of the worst crashes in the province in a decade.

Fog envelops the Lions Gate Bridge, bottom, and the downtown core of Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday February 4, 2012.

A panda reaches for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a photo at the Chongqing Zoo in Chongqing, China Saturday February 11, 2012. Two giant pandas will call Canada home for the next 10 years.

Mohammad Shafia (front), Tooba Yahya (right) and their son Hamed Shafia (left) are escorted into the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario on Thursday, January 26, 2012. They were later convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of four family members whose bodies were found in a car at the bottom of the Rideau Canal in 2009.

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair speaks to the media in Toronto early Tuesday, July 17, 2012, near the scene of a shooting where 19 people were injured and two were left dead at a house party late Monday July 16.

People look on as a house comes off its foundation in Two Mile just outside of Sicamous, B.C. Monday, June 25, 2012. Heavy rain falls, flooding and mudslides caused evacuations.

Liberal MP Justin Trudeau has his cowboy taken by his son Xavier, 4, while his wife Sophie Gregoire, second from left, holds daughter Ella-Grace, 3, at the party's annual Stampede breakfast in Calgary, Saturday, July 7, 2012.

Rescue workers remove their hard hats as firefighters carry a second body out of the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, Ont., on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, after the mall's roof collapsed.

Prince Charles wore headphones as he learned how to scratch and fade with a turntable while touring an employment skills workshop in Toronto, on Tuesday, May 22, 2012.

Nik Wallenda walks over Niagara Falls on a tightrope in Niagara Falls, Ont., on Friday, June 15, 2012.

People gather around a beached humpback whale that died during low tide in White Rock, B.C., on Tuesday, June 12, 2012. The fishing net that was found wrapped around the whale is seen at left.

A young girl pouts after presenting Prince Charles a bouquet of flowers during a walk about Saint John, N.B, on Monday, May 21, 2012 . The royal couple were on a four-day visit to Canada to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Conrad Black, right, kisses his wife Barbara Amiel Black as he arrives at his Bridle Path residence in Toronto on Friday, May 4, 2012. Black was released from a Florida State prison after serving a nearly four-year sentence.

Venus moves in front of the sun as hundreds of people gathered wearing special viewing glasses, at the University of Western Ontario to watch the event called The Venus Transit on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. The rare event occurs when the planet Venus moves in front of the sun. The next time this will occur is in 105 years in 2117.

A worker pulls a boom while harvesting cranberries on a farm in Richmond, B.C., on Sunday October 14, 2012. The lower mainland of British Columbia produces 20 per cent of the world's cranberries.

The full moon is seen over the snow covered McGillivray Pass Lodge located in the southern Chilcotin Mountains of British Columbia, Monday, Jan. 9, 2012.

Annie Johnson burns sweetgrass and sage during a National Aboriginal Veterans Day ceremony at the Victory Square Cenotaph in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday November 8, 2012. The ceremony is held to remember Aboriginal, Metis and Inuit men and women who served in the Canadian Forces.

Kristin Stewart is directed onto the red carpet at the gala for the movie "On The Road" during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012.

Jenna Talackova, the first transgendered Miss Universe contestant, is seen during a photo shoot at the Sandman Signature Hotel in Toronto on Saturday, May 12, 2012, in advance of the Miss Universe Canada pageant.

Michele Dionne puts her hand on her husband's shoulder, Quebec Liberal party leader Jean Charest, as they leave the stage in Sherbrooke Que., on Tuesday September 4, 2012. Charest had lost his riding of Sherbrooke and later resigned.

Daran Lin breaks down as he hugs the urn bearing the remains of his son, murder and dismemberment victim Jun Lin, during funeral services Thursday, July 26, 2012 in Montreal. Luka Magnotta is charged with Lin's murder.

Erin Mitchell, wearing the uniform of New Brunswick's 104th Regiment of Foot, provides tourists with pertinent information on the War of 1812, along the waterfront in Halifax on Thursday, July 26, 2012.

Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois is rushed off stage after shots were fired as she delivered her victory speech on Sept. 4, 2012. The shooting left one man dead and another wounded. Richard Henry Bain is with first-degree murder and 15 other offences.

RCMP Const. Ben Oliver wipes away a tear during a regimental funeral for his twin brother Const. Adrian Oliver in Langley, B.C., on Tuesday, November 20, 2012. Const. Adrian Oliver died November 13 after his unmarked police cruiser collided with a transport truck in Surrey, B.C.

Canada forwards Christine Sinclair (12) and Melissa Tancredi react after losing 4-3 in extra time women's soccer action against the USA at the Olympic Games in London on Monday August 6, 2012.

Canada's men's eight rowing team member Will Crothers flips himself into the water as he celebrates his silver medal at Eton Dorney during the 2012 Summer Olympics in Dorney, England on Wednesday, August 1, 2012.

A fan takes pictures as Phoenix Coyotes' Boyd Gordon, right, and Calgary Flames' Anton Babchuk, from Ukraine, crash into the boards during first period NHL hockey action in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, March 15, 2012.